


With Perfect Use

by twistedingenue



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 04:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/718670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedingenue/pseuds/twistedingenue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything has a failure rate, and having to talk to Coulson shouldn't be like seeing your high school principal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Perfect Use

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt fill that got out of hand. Original Prompt: Clint/Darcy ~ Pregnancy.  
> It took me forever to get over my own issues of writing pregnancy fic.

When Phil opens the door, he doesn't expect a strangely subdued Darcy Lewis waiting there, dark circles under her eyes. It's not entirely uncommon for her to wind up at SHIELD HQ -- Dr Foster sends her on errands to the NYC branch often, because Jane would rather not deal with, if he has to make any sort of guess, people. But a quiet Darcy, one not chatting with an agent or making eyes at whatever goodies Hannah in HR dropped off that morning, that's worth noting.  
   
"Did you need to see me, Miss Lewis?" He asks.  
   
"Um, yeah." Darcy says with a distant smile. One of the nice things about Darcy is that you can take her almost strictly at face value. No ulterior agenda, no major secrets, nothing more than a typical person on the street. She's a bedrock of stability, loud and straightforward and easy-going, a brilliant counterpoint to Dr Foster, who is also loud and straightforward, but not as easy-going.  
   
He motions her in, holding the door open for her and closing it behind her. He sits behind his desk, but she's looks down at the chair and looks over at him, still standing.  
   
"How long is Agent Barton's field op?" She asks abruptly. Straightforward and honest, it's really a joy to talk with her. No endless go around of manipulations.  
   
"I'm sorry, Miss Lewis, you know I can't comment on ongoing field operations." He puts a file or two away, and keeps even.  
   
"Coulson, I don't get involved in SHIELD ops, you know that, just how long is it roughly supposed to last. I don't need a specific end date." She bites her bottom lip, slowly catching and releasing it. Phil weighs this, while Darcy is close (for given values) to several agents and avengers, she's never made it her business to get involved on anything that's she's not directly brought in on. Which is already rare.  
   
"Four months give or take." He replies, "Probably more take than give."  
   
Lewis closes her eyes, but he can watch as her eyeballs scan up, calculating, "Okay," she says, her breathing artificially even, opening her eyes wide. "Okay, I'm going to need a favor." Her lips quirk nervously and Phil leans forward in his seat. But Darcy is quiet, continuously making false starts with her request.  
   
"Darcy," Phil knows his smile is a weapon, but he really does try to reassure her, "If you are in trouble, I'm sure we don't need to trouble Agent Barton with it."  
   
"I need to contact him, as soon as it's feasibly and safely possible."  
   
"You know we really can't do that, Miss Lewis." Darcy looks ready to bolt already, and if she's asking for this, there must be a reason, so he gestures to the chair, "I might be able to get a message to him, if it's important."  
   
She accepts the chair, running a hand through her hair and over her face, "Oh trust me, it's important. And not something that's good to just leave in a message. That would probably actually be worse."  
  
Well, this got interesting. "Miss Lewis...Darcy, if I'm going to break regulations, it's going to be for a good reason. Why do I need to contact Agent Barton, pull him away from an undercover operation, and delay it for a Skype call?"  
  
Darcy furrows her brows, "Wait, you'd use Skype during a field op? That doesn't seem secure at all."  
  
"Don't change the subject, Miss Lewis."  
  
She drums her fingers on his desk, chewing her lower lip again. "Um, okay," another drum and slap against the desk and she brings her head up, setting her jaw, "I don't know if you know, but Agent Barton -- Clint..." she corrects herself with small genuine smile "Clint, um, we've been seeing each other for uh, the last six months."  
  
Phil is taken aback, because he didn't know and that's fascinating. Clint's not usually all that hesitant to mention when he gets in or out of a relationship. That he could keep it quiet from Phil, or Natasha, who would have told Phil because she can be an incorrigible gossip. It does however, put Barton's willingness for the upstate security rotation into perspective, and just how often Darcy shows up without a real pressing need from Jane. "Is it serious?" he asks.  
  
"Sort of?" her voice trails off before she continues, "It's not not serious, but we were using this time apart to figure out if it was worth the long haul. Fuck, this is like talking to my high school principal. I'm not in trouble."  
  
It might not be trouble but Darcy is talking around the situation, and while Phil is not an idiot, knows that this isn't just a case of Darcy missing Clint. She's more practical than that.   
  
"So it turns out that there's a failure rate even with perfect use, both condoms and the pill. I'm pregnant, two months, and I really need to talk to Clint. Four months is a little long to wait."  
  
Darcy misreads his silence, not as disapproval but as an unwillingness, "He's not just some one night stand, it's Clint, and I really care for him. I'm not going to make this decision on my own, and I'm not going to surprise him with it when he gets back."  
  
Phil can't really think of anything worse to confront Barton with than a six month pregnant Darcy. That would cause him to run and run long and alienate himself not just from her, but from SHIELD if they kept the information from him.  
  
"How long have you known?"  
  
"Confirmed it at the doc's just a couple of days ago," she huffs, not looking at Phil anymore, "You're the first person I've told. Not even Jane. Quite frankly, neither of you are really the first people I'd tell."  
  
The meaning of pathetic isn't being a loser, not an object of pity, but by having the capacity to move another person to compassion or pity. It's a state that evokes an active emotion. And in this, Darcy is truly pathetic.  
  
"What do you want to do, Darcy?" He waves away her eye roll, because from her perspective, she's told him what she wants to do, "Besides contact Barton. And I'll see what I can do about that. Larger sense, do you want to be pregnant?"  
  
"Is that question supposed to be if I want to have a baby?" Darcy folds her arms and lays her head down, forehead first on his desk.  
  
"No, I'm pretty sure it's a total of nine months before the baby is on the outside."  
  
"I'm starting to understand why Clint likes you," she says into the desk, "I'm...not enthused but not unopposed. To either part. In either way. I'm just, Phil, I just need to know what he's going to think. Even if we disagree on what to do, he should know and have a voice." She raises her head to rest it on her hands, "What do you think he's going to think? I keep running conversations through my head, trying to get some idea, because trust me, this never came up."  
  
Phil loosens his tie and leans back into his chair, "Clint had a difficult childhood, he tell you that?"  
  
"Yeah," she replies in a small voice, "Crappy parents, crappy foster home, crappy circus and crappy brother. Won the shit parade, in his words."  
  
"He'll react strongly," Phil  is sure of that, and wonders if Darcy has any blonde relatives, because the image of a little blonde and blue eyed boy or girl hits him and he has to hide a smile. "But I can't say if having children was on an agenda for him."  
  
"Because it was really on mine...." She says, "You know, we didn't say anything about us going out because we didn't want.... He's a decade older than I am and I just graduated. There's not many people that think highly of couples like us."  
  
Phil touches her cheek, "How long are you in town Darcy?"  
  
"A few more days. I can always come back."  
  
"I'll speak with his handler. You understand, even if I can bring him in securely, I'll need to be in the room, it'll be monitored, and this will probably be the only time you'll get to talk. He can't be pulled off the mission." He explains as he starts planning the steps that will need to be taken in order to secure a line.  
  
"Thank you Phil."  
  
"Of course, Miss Lewis."  
  


* * *

  
"But she's okay?" Barton says nervously over the video feed, "I don't understand, Coulson."  
  
"Darcy is fine, but there's a circumstance that's come up that requires your attention." Phil says keeping a careful expression that Clint can probably see right through. He nods to Darcy, who takes the spot behind his desk.  
  
"Hey honey...." She starts and Clint darts his eyes over to the corner where Phil is standing. "So um, not to worry you for the next few months or anything but," Phil can see why Clint likes Darcy in that one sentence, "Well you know how we were really careful because surprises aren't fun when your first reaction is can I shoot it?"  
  
Clint takes a moment to parse and understand exactly what she's saying, and Phil realizes that he's impatient for the response. "Really?" Clint looks around his own area, a grin creeping up over his face, "Wow, in hindsight, keeping this whole relationship a secret thing was a really bad idea."


End file.
